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5K Mud Run -- June 2010

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Quick Post!

Just a quick post today -- I have spent most of the afternoon(1) eating a fabulous lunch with all my colleagues, (2) talking with the fabulous Sarah and (3) working on my presentation for tomorrow. At this point, the presentation is pretty much done (click here if you would like to see the finished product!) and hopefully things will just fall in place tomorrow during my 15 minute presentation and my 15 minute Q&A. I did a quick handout (outlining my category definitions in simple terms) but I just need to make sure that I bring my wit (and confidence?) with me in the morning. Just in case you are interested in the fascinating topics that my colleagues are doing, click here for the link to the Dartmouth College web site event announcement!

This morning Dr Bazerman had us consider research ethics, a topic I wasn't that familiar with. The Belmont Report in 1979 evolved out of the ethical problems concerning the Tuskegee syphilis experiments (Google this if you don't know about it) and the 1971 Strandford prisoner experiments. The three basic concepts that we need to be aware of is respect, benefit, and justice. So, in other words, we need to make sure that our research participants are seen as autonomous agents, that their well being is secured and advanced, and that any benefits we give or gain are shared. This was a huge reminder to me to make sure that I keep the names of my students (in my study) protected (and that I line them all up with fake names).

Just one private consultation with Dr Donahue in a few minutes and then one more group meeting at 5 PM. And then home to our cabin!

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About Me:

* Teach English and Coordinate the Honors Program at the Sam Wolf Granite City Campus of Southwestern Illinois College!
* Originally from a small town just north of Seattle, WA! (Ferndale)
* Married for almost 8 years to the marvelous Jim!
* Trying to meet a December 21 deadline for the writing up of my dissertation!
* Ran marathon #16 in October 2010 in San Francisco (Nike Women's Marathon) while on chemo -- so running is my thing! (Up to 17 marathons so far as of 2012)
* Have a running partner/ pup named Stella and two old-ish cats (Zora and Katie)

So What's the Point of this Blog??

The original reason for this blog: During the spring semester 2010, I will be conducting field research for my dissertation (as some of you know, I am a PhD candidate in the Rhetoric and Composition program at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale). In a nut shell, I will be observing and conducting field research on two ENG 101 courses that I will be teaching on my campus (the Sam Wolf Granite City Campus) of Southwestern Illinois College. These two courses will be focusing on the issue of race for the entire semester -- is the writing better when I ask students to critically think about -- and write about -- such a relevant issue? So the point of this blog is to give me a web space to talk about my observations -- and hopefully you, dear readers, will give me some feedback as this process unfolds!

New reason for this blog: Watch me figure out how to juggle writing a dissertation, teaching FT, spending time with my husband in daylight hours, and dealing with breast cancer!